The old ore tailings that are a historic part of the city's landscape pose as much a state problem as a local plague, says Mayor J. Donald Poulsen.
So he wants Utah lawmakers to spend some state money to help pay for their removal."They've always been called Midvale's tailings," said Poulsen. "But they just happen to be in Midvale. The whole state of Utah benefited when the industry was in operation."
Though Gov. Mike Leavitt and lawmakers have given lip service to an ongoing effort to move 14 million tons of tailings from beside the Jordan River, a resolution further committing the state to help fund their transfer out of town remained stuck in the House Rules Committee on Monday.
Poulsen, who has lobbied the Legislature for weeks, said he still thinks SCR10 could be adopted before the session ends Wednesday, despite remarks Sunday by Salt Lake County Commissioner Randy Hori-uchi, who called it a long
shot.
The mayor said that although a 349-acre slag dump is entirely within the city limits, 176 acres of a 257-acre site tainted by heavy-metal-laden tailings reaches across the city-limit line into Salt Lake County.
The city's ultimate goal, Poulsen noted, is to rid Midvale of the tailings, which some say are a threat to groundwater aquifers that serve an area far beyond the confines of Midvale.
Midvale for years has been in a fight with the Environmental Protection Agency, which wants to leave the tailings where they are, burying them beneath a clay cap.
That's the most practical and economic solution, the EPA says, though it would probably cost in the neighborhood of $55 million. Shipping the tailings to a remote desert site somewhere in Utah would cost perhaps $80 million, and the EPA has said it won't pay the difference.
Poulsen said it's too soon to say what either operation would cost, however, noting a Sept. 30 deadline for release of specifications and bid-solicitation announcements on each option.
He said that Midvale, a city with a population of 12,000 and an annual general-fund budget of $4.5 million, is in no position to contribute anything significant to the cost of the project.
Horiuchi said Sunday he thinks the EPA might agree to paying part of the extra cost of moving the tailings.
"In the past, the EPA has indicated they would be willing to step to the line with extra money for an off-site alternative if it wasn't an outrageous proposition. They're willing to drop in $15 million, not $50 million," he speculated.